Study Break! Attending NSBE 42nd Annual Convention

Viterbi organizations are great because they can provide an opportunity for you to connect with people from your major, gain real-life design engineering experience, meet with industry professionals, and even travel across the country. Yes travel!

This year I had the opportunity to travel to Boston alongside 38 other USC National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) members and attend the NSBE 42nd Annual Convention. The convention is packed full of workshops, panels, tech talks, and a giant career fair full of companies and graduate schools. My favorite part about attending the convention is seeing all the underrepresented minorities in engineering coming together to support, network (the NSBE network is HUGE), and have fun with one another. Did I mention nightly dance parties?

As I already had an internship lined up, I skipped the career fair and headed to some of the workshops and panels, something I wasn’t able to do the previous year. My favorite event was the conversation with Jack Dorsey, current CEO of both Twitter and Square. He talked about his childhood, journey to establishing Twitter, and what it’s like to be a CEO of 2 companies.

USC NSBE also had great success at the convention, with 3 of our members getting elected to the regional board.

Whose house? 6 house! (Region 6 Chapter Photo)

When I wasn’t in workshops, or catching up on homework, I spent my time sightseeing around Boston. This was my first time in Boston so of course I had to take the historic trolley ride so I could see all the big landmarks and get an overview of the city. Although it was cold, the beauty of the historic buildings and the delicious food, especially the cannoli, was well worth it. I even got to meet up with my old boss and co-workers from Visa for dinner.

At Quincy Market with NSBE Fam

I can’t wait to see what next year’s convention has in store. See ya in Kansas!

To find out more about NSBE, check out the podcast that Frankie and I did below: